


Nine and a Half

by bansheee



Series: And a Half [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Married Couple, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 11:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6656524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bansheee/pseuds/bansheee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After nine and a half years of marriage, Teddy can still look at James and remember every moment they shared together as if it was yesterday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nine and a Half

“You have to be very careful with her,” Teddy whispered as he rested his hand on the top of Johnny’s head. At three, their son had to stand on the tips of his toes to see inside the crib. Teddy watched as he stretched his hand through the bars. Slowly, Johnny reached over and pressed a finger into Dora’s palm. Teddy covered his laugh as Johnny jumped when she wrapped her pudgy fingers around his index finger.  
  
“She’s so little,” Johnny said in awe.  
  
“You were that little, too,” James said from the chair next to the crib. They’d left the nursery the same and given Johnny a ‘big-boy’ room when they decided to have a second child. Johnny had James’ unruly dark hair, while Dora was born with the same metamorphic abilities as her namesake, according to the purple hair she was already sprouting. Teddy watched as Johnny looked over to James, all the while still keeping his hand touching his sister.  
  
“I don’t remember it,” Johnny said.  
  
James chuckled quietly. “You wouldn’t. You probably wouldn’t remember keeping Daddy and I up all night crying, either.”  
  
Johnny turned back to his sister. “When is she going to be able to play Wolfies with me?”  
  
Teddy laughed. Johnny’s new favorite game since learning the story of his late grandfather was to run around the backyard howling. Teddy and James were both surprised they hadn’t gotten any weird calls from the neighbors. “Probably not for a while, mate.”  
  
Johnny huffed at that answer. “She’s not very fun then.”  
  
Teddy looked over to James and shared a smile. He let his eyes drag over the stubble around his jaw and the bags under his eyes; they were both a mess of nerves waiting for Dora to be born, but the sunken features only made Teddy love his husband that much more.  
  
They let Johnny stay up a little later than normal that night, even though they were both ready to crash in bed and sleep for a week. James rocked in the chair with Johnny in his lap, blabbering on about things he could do with his new sister, and Teddy walked around with Dora carefully placed in his arms. Listening to the sounds of his son’s excited stories, his husband’s tired replies, and his daughter’s quiet snoring, Teddy didn’t think it was possible to be more at peace.  
  
*  
  
Teddy cringed as he heard thundering on the staircase above him. He’d heard horror stories about living under a staircase from Harry, but they’d ignored his father-in-law when buying the house. They regretted it every Christmas, and mostly every other day of the year. Didn’t the Christmas tales always say pleasant things about hooves on the rooftop? They never mentioned the pounding of feet, the jiggling of the door handle, and the fingers under the door frame.  
  
“James,” Teddy slid his hand across the bed and rested it on his husband’s shoulder. “Did you lock the door?”  
  
There was a recognizable affirming grunt from under the blanket. Teddy smiled, and slid his hand down James’ side to rest on his hip. “Happy Christmas, love.”  
  
Another grunt.  
  
Teddy let out a soft chuckle and scooted closer to press a kiss to James’ forehead. He smiled when – even in his sleepy state – James still managed to bring his hand to rest on Teddy’s side. “You didn’t honestly think they’d listen to the six o’clock rule, did you?”  
  
“I’m taking back Johnny’s broom. You know he’s instigating all of this,” James huffed out a tired laugh. “Bloody ungrateful… I stood in line for hours.”  
  
“I still can’t believe you got him a broom. He’s seven!” Teddy tried to keep his voice down, hoping their children would eventually give up and go sit in the living room to _patiently_ wait.  
  
Right.  
  
James slid himself across the bed until he was nestled into the crook of Teddy’s neck. “I got my first broom when I was four,” James muttered into the space.  
  
Teddy wrapped his arm more securely around James, rubbing at his back. “I remember. I also remember you crashed it into the tree twelve minutes later. Your mum was so angry at Ron.”  
  
“Da- _ddy_! Papa!” Teddy cringed as their daughter Dora’s voice floated under the door. “We can hear you talking!  
  
“Stop kissing and open the door!” their son chimed in.  
  
“We’re going to call Santa and have him take back all of your gifts!” Teddy called as a response.  
  
“Daddy, you don’t _call_ Santa, you write to him or visit him at the mall,” Dora’s response came back.  
  
James slid out from pressing his lips to Teddy’s neck. Finally making eye contact, he said, “She’s four.”  
  
“I’m four and a half!”  
  
*  
  
In his half-asleep state, Teddy couldn’t help the whimper that escaped his lips as James pressed his mouth to Teddy’s neck. He felt hands dragging along his torso, and his husband’s body was pressing against his.  
  
“Morning.” Teddy’s voice was still groggy with sleep and his greeting croaked its way out.  
  
“Mmmh,” James replied, not removing his mouth from Teddy’s skin. Teddy closed his eyes at the hot breath over the wet spot on his neck, a small chuckle from James as he climbed on top.  
  
Trapped underneath a spattering of kisses, Teddy could barely whisper out, “Kids’ll be awake soon.”  
  
There was another ‘hmm’ from James in between presses of lips, before he backed away and whispered, “Johnny’s nine. He knows where the peanut butter and jelly are.”  
  
At the same time as Teddy gave in and pressed his hands to James’ hips, he muttered, “I have to be back to the school at ten today to get the classroom ready.”  
  
Another hum came from above him. “Shame you couldn’t have gotten the Defense Against the Dark Arts position before I graduated.”  
  
Teddy snorted. “No thanks. I’ll stick with marrying you instead.”  
  
He shut his eyes at the feeling of James laughing against his neck. “Head of Hufflepuff,” James muttered into the skin. “Always had to stick to the rules, didn’t you?”  
  
“Whereas you,” Teddy replied, bringing his hands up to James’ waist. As soon as James caught onto what Teddy was doing, Teddy dug his fingers in and tickled. “Snuck out of the castle and _surprised_ me while I was working in Hogsmeade.” Teddy chuckled as James’ laughter filled the room. James squirmed off of him and fell onto the bed, giving Teddy the leverage to climb on top. “Menace.”  
  
“You love me,” James replied.  
  
Teddy looked down. Instead of answering how, _of course he did_ , and how he fell in love with James even more every day, he pressed a kiss onto James’ lips. Leaving one hand on the mattress below to support his weight, he dragged the other hand along James’ torso and up into his hair.  
  
Just as he felt James’ lips separate and tongue dart out, there was a wet crash in the kitchen and yelling.  
  
“Daddy!”  
  
Teddy dropped his head onto James’ shoulder, and the two dissolved into giggles.  
  
*  
  
Teddy readjusted his bawling eight year old so she was more secure on his hip, before walking swiftly through the wall at King’s Cross Station. He was worried that her sobs of sadness would be the sole cause for Muggles finding out about the wizarding world with the amount of people staring at his dysfunctioning family. It was bad enough that James was snarking at him every time he opened his mouth, but to top it all off Dora had started a fresh round of tears that he _thought_ had ended in the car.  
  
Through the passage and onto the platform, Teddy turned and waited for Johnny to follow. When the trolley appeared, followed directly by James instead of his son, Teddy couldn’t help the scowl.  
  
“Where’s Johnny?” he could tell his voice sounded much more irritated than what he’d been going for. Dora sniffled on his shoulder.  
  
“Wanted to go alone,” James muttered, pushing the trolley ahead. Teddy rolled his eyes and let out a huff and glared at the back of his husband’s head.  
  
“Daddy?” Dora sniffled again.  
  
“What?” Teddy instantly cringed at the way his reply was snapped out to his crying child. “What, sweetie?” he said again in a much softer tone.  
  
“Why are you and Papa fighting?”  
  
_Too smart for her own good_ , Teddy thought to himself. “Grownups just do that sometimes.” He hated lying to his kids and saying that they weren’t, so he tried to be as vague as possible.  
  
“Is it my fault?” She turned so her big, soppy eyes were looking at him. Right when she was born, Harry had told him she’d been mimicking Remus’ eyes.  
  
“No, sweetheart, everyone has accidents.” Teddy pulled her closer and hugged her. “Papa and I are just so sad that I’m going to be away for a few weeks, and that makes everything harder.” He’d already had a talk with Dora, and the kids were used to him being away for periods of time during the school year. This was the first year that it’d just be James and Dora at home by themselves, instead of having Johnny there as well.  
  
At the thought of Johnny, he finally appeared through the platform wall. Teddy sighed when his son ignored him and ran ahead to catch up with James.  
  
“You are lying, Daddy,” Dora muttered sadly. “I thought you said Puffies don’t lie.” Her eyes were swelling up with wetness again. “It is my fault!”  
  
The wail she let out echoed through the platform. Thankfully it was busy enough that not _everyone_ looked over to the weeping child, and Teddy managed to glare off anyone that did.  
  
Teddy pulled her closer and into a hug. “Honey, we all have accidents,” he whispered in a soft voice so only she could hear. “Papa and I didn’t work together to help you this morning, and that’s why we are upset. We aren’t upset at you, Dora. I love you and I’m going to miss you so much. It would make my very happy if I could see you smile before I had to get on the train.”  
  
She took in a few gulps of air before she let out a heavy breath. “Okay Daddy.”  
  
Teddy was next to James and Johnny by their trolley now, and avoided the look he was getting from his husband. Instead, he set Dora down on the ground and knelt in front of her. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the way she forced a smile through her tears, before wrapping her tiny arms around his neck.  
  
“I’m going to miss you, Daddy, but I know you have to go fight the bad guys,” she muttered into his neck. “I don’t think you should fight with Papa anymore. He gets very sad at home when you are not there.”  
  
Having both heard what she said, Teddy looked up to James. There was a renewed softness in the way James was smiling down to him.  
  
“I’m going to miss Papa very much, too, and I hope he isn’t too sad,” Teddy said to Dora while keeping his eyes locked with James’. He stood and rested his hand on Dora’s head, facing James.  
  
“Maybe you need to come home for some more conjugal visits,” James said with a suggestive raise of his eyebrows, purposely using a word that neither one of the kids would know.  
  
“Menace,” Teddy replied softly. He smiled when James finally broke out into laughter.  
  
*  
  
“Ugh, can you stop?” At fourteen, Johnny was too cool for anything. As their son stared anxiously at the fireplace, he said, “She’s going to be here any minute and it’s already embarrassing enough to have my _dad_ as a teacher. You don’t need to be kissing _all_ the time.”  
  
Teddy broke the kiss with James when both of them started laughing.  
  
“What if I like kissing your dad _all_ the time,” James kept his face close enough that Teddy could see the laughter dancing in his eyes.  
  
“Come on!” Johnny complained. “Do you actually want me to _die_ of embarrassment?”  
  
Teddy finally broke the eye contact and sat back into the couch. “I guess. He did _actually_ clean his room for this.”  
  
“Which will stay _open_ ,” James added, giving a stern look across the living room.  
  
Another sigh. “Laura’s parents are _way_ cooler.”  
  
James laughed again. “Hear that? We’re uncool. I should write to Grandpa Harry; he’d get a kick out of this.” Both Teddy and James laughed fondly at the memories of when they first got together.  
  
“I love Daddy kisses!” Dora came running into the room in her school uniform and launched herself onto the couch. Ever since she started at Hogwarts that year, they hadn’t been able to get her to take the Ravenclaw robes off when she was at home visiting. James winced as she landed in his lap and knocked all of the breath out of him. Through his pain he still chuckled when she planted a wet kiss onto his cheek.  
  
“Never grow up, Dora; you just get grumpy like your brother,” James said, out of breath.  
  
A sigh and more complaints were covered up by the laughter of the rest of the Lupin-Potter family.

**Author's Note:**

> this story is also posted on harrypotterfanfiction.com under the penname banshee


End file.
